I just repaced my Lacie 22" Electron Blue CRT with the NEC PA272W. Generally, it's an amazing monitor and I love the wider color gamut. I have a few queswtions and one problem.

1) No English users manual and no CD was included with the monitor, only a short quick set-up guide. Is this standard for this monitor?

2) I chose 52 samples for spectraview II which prevents selection of Best Grayscale Color Tracking. Would it be better to select 32 samples and Best Grayscale Color Tracking rather than Maximise Best Contrast Ratio?

I usually work in a dim enviroment.

3) I profiled to color gamut Native (Full). This is correct, right?

4) I assume the Spectraview II is using the monitors LUT's, and not those of the video card. Should I check? How?

5) My old monitor would wake back up after moving the mouse or pressing a key on the keyboard. This one doesn't. It does have the USB input cable connected.

6) I used my old CRT at 80 candellas. I profilled the PA272W to 100 candellas, but it seems a little bright from what I am used to. Can I go lower? Is there a lower limit wihich I should not drop below? What is typical for dim enviroment?

7) I'm getting a faint green shadow at the most far left 2-3 inches of the monitor edge. I assume the monitor will need to be replaced. Any solutions to try?

6. Try to get used to 100 first, and see how it matches with your output. 100 seems about right for a dim environment. If you go very low it will negatively affect monitor performance. Only a very few and very good monitors can handle anything below 100, but the PA should be among them if you need it.

7. That's not a good sign, that won't go away. I'd ask to get it replaced.

Point 2 revisited. I had to get home to the system where I have SVII installed to check the settings.

Under Preferences > Calibration, it says that "(Best Grayscale) will not be used if a calibration target with a contrast ratio of other than Default is selected". So if you set contrast to anything lower, say 350:1, that option is unavailable. And sure enough the option is grayed out here. I hadn't noticed this.

Strangely enough this is the direct opposite of Eizo ColorNavigator's policy. There you have to set the black point higher than native (reduce the contrast) for this option to become available. If you leave it at native minimum you only get the "maximize contrast" option.

Not that I think this matters very much in practice.

If you're proofing for print, you normally don't want the full contrast range. Very few papers exceed 300:1 and matte papers are more in the 200:1 region. Offset print is even lower than that. So if your display shows 600 or 800:1 what you see isn't what you get at all.

Tried the space bar previously- didn't work.I just have to push the power button on the monitor now. If that's the worst thing, I can live with it.

I see the same behavior from time to time. I'm hooked up to a MacBook with lid closed. In worst case, I hit the power button (blue) on the unit for off, then right on again, it 'wakes up'. But it's inconsistent and an issue I've seen from day one.

2) I chose 52 samples for spectraview II which prevents selection of Best Grayscale Color Tracking. Would it be better to select 32 samples and Best Grayscale Color Tracking rather than Maximise Best Contrast Ratio?

On the PA series the number of steps doesn't have any impact on the final calibration quality. The display's internal color engine does all of the grayscale tracking correction automatically. The measurements are just for confirmation purposes only.

5) My old monitor would wake back up after moving the mouse or pressing a key on the keyboard. This one doesn't. It does have the USB input cable connected.

The default setting on the PAxx2 series is to power the display off completely after 2 hours in power savings mode in order to maximize power savings. This will require the display to be powered on again using the front power button. You can change this setting on the OSD (Advanced Settings -> "Tab 6" -> "Power Save Timer" -> Off), or by using the MultiProfiler software.

6) I used my old CRT at 80 candellas. I profilled the PA272W to 100 candellas, but it seems a little bright from what I am used to. Can I go lower? Is there a lower limit wihich I should not drop below? What is typical for dim enviroment?

On the PAxx2 series you can go down to 40 cd/m^2 if you want to. Coming from a CRT however it will take some time to get used to working at higher luminance levels.